# Pointless



## Ether's Bane (Apr 23, 2013)

I don't think many of you are game show buffs, but I am, and this is my current favourite.

Here's an episode, to give you an idea of how it works.

Basically, the fewer the people that also gave your answer in the survey, the lower your score, and the lower your score, the better it is for you.


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## Minish (Apr 23, 2013)

I and opal, but also I'm pretty sure Dannichu, are impossibly into this show. I haven't watched much for a while, but every time it's just as fun.

the most fun always ends up being a) word rounds, b) deciding which team is the most endearing and important to root for. but even if you root for the best team, a pair of sports fans inevitably get to the final. :C


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## opaltiger (Apr 23, 2013)

Oh, man, Pointless. Third best quiz show. (After University Challenge and Only Connect, naturally.)

Though yes. It is once in a blue moon that people pick the topic I want them to pick in the final. I think my favourite format is "here is a fact about a person, who are they". That or geography rounds which are ridiculously easy because for some reason people _still_ haven't worked out that all they have to do is remember the Pacific island states.


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## Tailsy (Apr 23, 2013)

I've actually been to a recording of Pointless! :O (That was a boring episode though. There wasn't a pointless answer D:)


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## Ether's Bane (Apr 23, 2013)

Minish said:


> the most fun always ends up being a) word rounds, b) deciding which team is the most endearing and important to root for.


Personally, I enjoy the head-to-head round to qualify for the bonus round the most.


> but even if you root for the best team, a pair of sports fans inevitably get to the final. :C


Just curious - how is this necessarily a bad thing?



opaltiger said:


> Oh, man, Pointless. Third best quiz show. (After University Challenge and Only Connect, naturally.


When it comes to other quiz shows, I'm more of a Jeopardy fan myself, actually.


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## Murkrow (Apr 23, 2013)

I don't have a TV so I can't watch it, but I do whenever I'm home from uni.
Every once in a while my parents skype me and tell me if one of the questions was about Star Trek or something, to see if I'd know one of the pointless answers.

Also, one of my algebra lecturers looks like Alexander Armstrong.


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## Minish (Apr 23, 2013)

Ether's Bane said:


> Just curious - how is this necessarily a bad thing?


I mean, then they'll inevitably pick the sports option for the final question! and I Do Not Care about Sports



Murkrow said:


> I don't have a TV so I can't watch it, but I do whenever I'm home from uni.


iplayer! :o though the reason I don't watch it much anymore is because it's boring if it's not either on TV or with someone else.


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## opaltiger (Apr 23, 2013)

Ether's Bane said:


> When it comes to other quiz shows, I'm more of a Jeopardy fan myself, actually.


My criterion for a good quiz show is how many questions they get in per episode. Basically anything that involves a cash prize fails in that regard. University Challenge is non-stop rapid-fire questions for half an hour; Only Connect is slower paced, but the questions take longer to figure out.

Pointless kind of fails horribly under that criterion, but the interesting format and wonderful chemistry between Alexander and Richard makes up for it.


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## Ether's Bane (Apr 24, 2013)

Minish said:


> I mean, then they'll inevitably pick the sports option for the final question! and I Do Not Care about Sports


Although I actually do know a fair bit of sports trivia, I completely understand, because I feel the same way about those questions which you'd only know the answer to if you lived in Britain (I don't).



opaltiger said:


> My criterion for a good quiz show is how many questions they get in per episode. Basically anything that involves a cash prize fails in that regard. University Challenge is non-stop rapid-fire questions for half an hour; Only Connect is slower paced, but the questions take longer to figure out.
> 
> Pointless kind of fails horribly under that criterion, but the interesting format and wonderful chemistry between Alexander and Richard makes up for it.


I like quiz shows that aren't as luck-of-the-draw-based (Millionaire, Family Feud/Fortunes) and reward you for having lots of knowledge (Pointless, Jeopardy).

By the way, what do you think of Jeopardy?


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## opaltiger (Apr 24, 2013)

Ether's Bane said:


> By the way, what do you think of Jeopardy?


Decent concept, but as I recall it moves too slowly for my liking.


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## Teh Ebil Snorlax (Apr 25, 2013)

My mother and I adore Pointless, and watching it while drunk in the early hours of the morning was one of the many bonding activities that brought me and my college friends together. My only pointless answer was in a round where they gave a list of famous musicians and you had to name their biopic. Apparently, Britons don't know their Cole Porter like I do.


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## Dannichu (Apr 25, 2013)

opaltiger said:


> Pointless kind of fails horribly under that criterion, but the interesting format and wonderful chemistry between Alexander and Richard makes up for it.


My housemate and I ship Richard and Xander so hard. He has the cover of a TV magazine with X&R on saying 'TV'S GOLDEN COUPLE' pinned to his door (by me).

It could really use more questions (all Central African Republic, all the time), but picking the couple you like most (so many times I've been horribly let down and assumed a pair were a romantic couple and then they were siblings or something) and cheering them on is brilliant fun. 

And knitted dolls kissing each other :D

I watched an episode tonight, and apparently 50 people out of 100 were unable to identify the Leaning Tower of Pisa. British public, what are you doing with your lives?


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## Murkrow (Apr 26, 2013)

Minish said:


> iplayer! :o though the reason I don't watch it much anymore is because it's boring if it's not either on TV or with someone else.


Yeah, I think it would be a bit boring to watch it on my own.



Dannichu said:


> apparently 50 people out of 100 were unable to identify the Leaning Tower of Pisa. British public, what are you doing with your lives?


After only 92 people could recognise the Queen, I was surprised more people than that recognised Elvis Presley.


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## opaltiger (Apr 26, 2013)

Personally I enjoyed the one where only 90 or so people could identify a picture of the Earth from space.


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